North Carolina digital reality posture profile
This page summarizes six tracked digital safety topics for North Carolina, showing where public legislative coverage currently looks more proactive, more reactive, broader, or thinner. It is a structural posture signal based on public disclosures, not a political or legal grade.
Educational summary only
Not legal advice. Laws and enforcement change frequently. Verify current official statutes, regulations, and counsel where needed.
Overall state posture signal
Mixed posture with narrow tracked coverage.
Based on six tracked topics and public disclosures.
Posture meter
Lean and breadth across six tracked topics. Not a quality or political score.
Lean
Mixed posture
Breadth
Narrow tracked coverage
North Carolina Synthetic Explicit Content law summary
Based on direct statute tracking.
North Carolina makes it a crime to create or share sexually explicit images of children that are AI-generated, computer-generated, or digitally altered, and its revenge-porn and sexual-extortion laws now reach realistic deepfakes of a real, identifiable person. These changes came through House Bill 591 (Session Law 2024-37), signed by Governor Roy Cooper on July 8, 2024 and effective December 1, 2024. The child-exploitation offenses reach material "created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in sexual activity," and a new offense (G.S. 14-190.17C) applies even when the minor depicted does not actually exist. Based on public records, this is an enacted rule in effect statewide rather than a pending bill.
Educational summary only
Not legal advice. Laws and enforcement change frequently. Verify current official statutes, regulations, and counsel where needed.
Why this status
Based on direct statute tracking.
What this means
- North Carolina's enacted Session Law 2024-37 explicitly criminalizes AI-generated and digitally altered sexually explicit depictions of minors and realistic deepfakes of identifiable people, effective December 1, 2024.
What to do next
- Read the cited statute or bill text linked below to confirm the specifics for your state.
Citation-grade sources
Official sources
2N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-190.13 — codified definitions
Official textCitation: Codified G.S. 14-190.13(2) defines 'material' to include 'digital or computer-generated visual depictions or representations created, adapted, or modified by technological means, such as algorithms or artificial intelligence,' and 14-190.13(1a) defines 'identifiable minor' recognizable as an actual person, confirming statutory coverage of synthetic CSAM.
Observed: 2026-07-07Open sourceNC Session Law 2024-37 (House Bill 591) — enrolled act
Official textCitation: Enrolled Session Law 2024-37 / House Bill 591 redefines G.S. 14-190.13(2) 'material' to include depictions 'created, adapted, or modified by technological means, such as algorithms or artificial intelligence,' adds new obscene-visual-representation offense G.S. 14-190.17C (minor 'need not actually exist'), and per Section 5 becomes effective December 1, 2024; ratified June 28, 2024 and approved by Governor Roy Cooper July 8, 2024.
Observed: 2026-07-07Open source
Context / secondary sources
1UNC School of Government — NC Criminal Law Blog, 'Prosecuting the Simulacrum'
Discovery leadObserved: 2026-07-07Open source
Provenance
Source basis
Official/public links curated
Confidence
High confidence
Review scope
Review centered on currently tracked state-level law
Last reviewed
2026-07-07 · 7 July 2026
References
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-190.13 — codified definitions
NC Session Law 2024-37 (House Bill 591) — enrolled act
UNC School of Government — NC Criminal Law Blog, 'Prosecuting the Simulacrum'
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